What's the best workout while pregnant?

[larin20]

Is there anything you should eliminate while preggo? Im doing the thunder beginner plan but I need to change it up soon. I would love to sustain my muscle I have and not work on increasing size.

Any suggestions? Should I still lift heavy or lighten up?

Thanks :compute:

[MicheleSC]

Originally posted by larin20@May 16 2006, 07:15 AM
Is there anything you should eliminate while preggo? Im doing the thunder beginner plan but I need to change it up soon. I would love to sustain my muscle I have and not work on increasing size.

Any suggestions? Should I still lift heavy or lighten up?

Thanks :compute:
I was doing T's full body workout for a while after the morning sickness subsided in my second trimester. Since I hadn't lifted in more than a month, I just adjusted the weight - I still lifted heavy on the heavy day, but it was not quite as heavy as before. Just do what is comfortable. I think liberty mentioned that she started feeling too much discomfort when doing deadlifts at a certain point (late second trimester ? ) - I did find that my belly did start to get in the way, too. When benchpressing, I found it difficult at one point to get myself up off the bench mostly on the day that calls for the DB bench press. I had to roll off the bench to get off.

I would just do what you can and make adjustments as your body tells you too - believe me, it will :p

[strongchick]

When pg, you have to be very careful as you advance in pregnancy. You should not do any lifting that requires you to lie down, as in bench pressing. In addition, your heart rate should not get too high, so it may be better to do more moderate sets rather than heavy sets.

Your ligaments become more flexible, so be very careful you don't hurt yourself. You center of gravity is also changed, which can risk injury if you are not prepared for that.

http://babyfit.com/articles.asp?id=37

http://www.mwmc.org/topnav/library/pregnan...Itcanbedone.htm (http://www.mwmc.org/topnav/library/pregnancycenter/articles/Exercise/BodybuildingduringpregnancyItcanbedone.htm)

[larin20]

What about your cardio workout? I was doing HIIT 2 times a week and 3 SS a wwk for about 40 minutes. Should I switch it up and take out HIIT and add more SS?

[strongchick]

You don't want to do HIIT at all!!!! You cannot have your heart rate up that high.

You shouldn't be trying to lose weight. A little cardio is fine, but nothing strenuous.

[Tina]

Thanks for those links Strongchick!

[Tina]

Walking is good too. Keeps you moving.

[dare]

Sarah mentioned not doing exercises lying down...ie. bench press...so what do you substitute for this? Push ups?

[liberty]

Originally posted by dare@May 16 2006, 10:05 AM
Sarah mentioned not doing exercises lying down...ie. bench press...so what do you substitute for this? Push ups?
This made me giggle a little, if I tried pushups I would be rolling on my huge belly like an exercise ball :lol: Just use the incline bench instead. I have even (heaven forbid) used the pec deck for chest. I dropped all cardio except for chasing my kids and walking and reading magazines on the lazy bike. I am still doing a FB workout modified for my belly size.
C

[dare]

Originally posted by liberty@May 16 2006, 09:09 AM
This made me giggle a little, if I tried pushups I would be rolling on my huge belly like an exercise ball :lol: Just use the incline bench instead. I have even (heaven forbid) used the pec deck for chest. I dropped all cardio except for chasing my kids and walking and reading magazines on the lazy bike. I am still doing a FB workout modified for my belly size.
C
:lol: Ya, now that I read it again, it makes me laugh too! I wasn't thinking of doing pushups in late pregancy when you have a big tummy, but more or less when it's you're just starting to 'grow'. lol. In what trimester should you stop doing exercises lying down?

[liberty]

Originally posted by dare+May 16 2006, 10:13 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (dare @ May 16 2006, 10:13 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-liberty@May 16 2006, 09:09 AM
This made me giggle a little, if I tried pushups I would be rolling on my huge belly like an exercise ball :lol: Just use the incline bench instead. I have even (heaven forbid) used the pec deck for chest. I dropped all cardio except for chasing my kids and walking and reading magazines on the lazy bike. I am still doing a FB workout modified for my belly size.
C
:lol: Ya, now that I read it again, it makes me laugh too&#33; I wasn&#39;t thinking of doing pushups in late pregancy when you have a big tummy, but more or less when it&#39;s you&#39;re just starting to &#39;grow&#39;. lol. In what trimester should you stop doing exercises lying down? [/b][/quote]
When it starts to make you feel creepy. I think I was around 20 weeks and I felt light headed/barfy lying flat on my back.
C

[trigirl]

Your pregnant body has an amazing way of telling you to slow down. If you push yourself to hard, you will be exhausted the next day (as in, you will want to lie down all day, which is not always easy to do&#33;&#33;). I did mostly cardio during my first pregnancy, and am doing mostly weights this time around. You really have to go by how you feel. There is so much info about what you should and shouldn&#39;t do, but honestly, your body will tell you. I still do some weights lying on my back :blink: , and have not felt any pressure on my vena cava (it depends on your positioning, and the weight of your belly), and I&#39;m 27 weeks. Do whatever feels good for you and the baby.

[dare]

I know that you shouldn&#39;t do too much strenous exercise when you&#39;re pregnant, as you don&#39;t want to over heat your body or get your heart beat up too much....this really confuses me & makes me a little nervous b/c I am not sure exactly what I should do then when I get pregant. All forms of cardio are going to make you sweat a little...therefore raising your temp. & heart rate...so how do you know if you&#39;re being safe or not? I&#39;m starting to get scared at the thought of excerising when I get pregant b/c I don&#39;t want to harm my baby.

[Tina]

Originally posted by dare@May 18 2006, 04:49 PM
I know that you shouldn&#39;t do too much strenous exercise when you&#39;re pregnant, as you don&#39;t want to over heat your body or get your heart beat up too much....this really confuses me & makes me a little nervous b/c I am not sure exactly what I should do then when I get pregant. All forms of cardio are going to make you sweat a little...therefore raising your temp. & heart rate...so how do you know if you&#39;re being safe or not? I&#39;m starting to get scared at the thought of excerising when I get pregant b/c I don&#39;t want to harm my baby.
I know what you mean. All of these "don&#39;ts" it&#39;s hard to know what you can do.

[trigirl]

Originally posted by dare@May 18 2006, 03:49 PM
I know that you shouldn&#39;t do too much strenous exercise when you&#39;re pregnant, as you don&#39;t want to over heat your body or get your heart beat up too much....this really confuses me & makes me a little nervous b/c I am not sure exactly what I should do then when I get pregant. All forms of cardio are going to make you sweat a little...therefore raising your temp. & heart rate...so how do you know if you&#39;re being safe or not? I&#39;m starting to get scared at the thought of excerising when I get pregant b/c I don&#39;t want to harm my baby.
You don&#39;t want to overheat by sitting in a sauna for a few hours, but other than that, you will not "burn your baby&#39;s brain" or other old wives tales that you&#39;ve heard. Trust me, you will not be able to work out as hard as you think you can, as when you become pregnant, just walking up a flight of stairs is exhausting, as your oxygenated blood is being shunted towards your babe. So as far as cardio goes, don&#39;t worry about it. A very over-cautious rule is 140 beats per min, but that really depends on your existing cardiovascular level. May women continue to run everyday during their pregnancies. As I said above, you just have to trust your instincts, and go by how your body feels. You won&#39;t be training for a marathon, trust me. :)

[Suzqtraining]

When I was pregnant I liked to swim a lot... (pool not ocean/beach) :clap: And make sure the water is not to cold.